“Smoking is a great, sensual pleasure…” said that tango from 1922 that Sara Montiel popularized in Spain when television arrived. But times have completely changed. Tobacco consumption is not only stigmatized by political and health authorities, who increasingly expand the areas of prohibition, but it has become a very expensive vice.
In France there is the paradox that, being one of the European countries where smoking is still the most, the price of a pack of twenty cigarettes does not stop rising and, in some brands, it will already reach 12 euros next year and at the same time minus 13 in 2026. Only in Ireland do you pay more. The rate of rise has been spectacular. The average price of the package was 3.20 euros in 2000 and 5 euros in 2005.
The Minister of Health, Aurélien Rousseau, when announcing the new anti-smoking plan last week, defended the bans and price increases because “they work.” “There is consensus on this worldwide,” he emphasized. Today, some 75,000 deaths are attributed to tobacco each year in France, which is 200 a day. The objective is to considerably reduce these figures. Although the trend is downward and smoking has decreased especially among the youngest, a slight increase has been detected among women and in the population with less education. Current smokers are estimated at 12 million.
From now on you will not be able to smoke on beaches, parks, forests and around public centers such as schools. Disposable electronic cigarettes have been banned for being “an aberration for health and an aberration for the environment,” in the words of the minister.
The increase in the price of tobacco is a consequence of a decision by Parliament taken in 2022 that automatically links it to general inflation. 80% of the amount paid by the smoker is taxes, so the ability of tobacco companies to cushion the increase and absorb it is very limited. For the State, tobacco continues to be an important source of income. It is estimated that the taxes levied on this product will amount to 13.7 billion euros for public coffers this year, somewhat less than in 2022.
One of the consequences of high taxation on tobacco is that smuggling has skyrocketed, as has individual cross-border purchases. In 2022, customs services confiscated 650 tons of smuggled cigarettes, 60% more than the previous year. Five clandestine tobacco factories were also discovered on French territory.
Tobacco is already handled as a high-value item and, therefore, deserving of special protection against theft. During the recent Milipol security fair, on the outskirts of Paris, the representative of a cash transport company acknowledged that, although the volume of cash has been greatly reduced – due to the habit of paying by card – the vans armored vehicles have found other clients. Now they are also used to transport tobacco cartons. It is not uncommon for cigarettes to be as guarded as jewelry.
Another sign in the same direction was the campaign of assaults on tobacconists that took place at the beginning of last summer during the serious riots that broke out on the outskirts of large cities after the death of a teenager at a police checkpoint in Nanterre, next to Paris. Hundreds of tobacco shops throughout the country were looted, to the point that the Government had to decide on specific emergency aid for the sector.
Aware that the war on tobacco can threaten the long-term survival of tobacconists, they are rapidly recycling and expanding their product offering, from food to games of chance. Some serve as local collection points for courier companies. The Government is sensitive to the situation and has decided, for example, to authorize tobacconists, starting in January next year, to sell ammunition for hunters' weapons. Less smoke for the lungs, but more gunpowder for the shotguns.
